


How Do You Kill A Cactus? A Cactus!

by TheDarkestMindWithin



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Short, Slow To Update, Student Steve Rogers, War Veteran Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 23:00:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18214820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkestMindWithin/pseuds/TheDarkestMindWithin
Summary: How the hell is Bucky Barnes meant to tell the kid living two floors below him that, yes, you have to water a plant to keep it alive, but NOT THAT MUCH!





	1. The Mystery Of The Disappearing Cactus.

* * *

Bucky's new apartment in the quiet streets of Brooklyn still doesn't feel like home.

He still feels unfamiliar and disjointed in the small home despite his best efforts. He tries various ways to make him feel more relaxed, adds extra _'homey'_ things to his small living-room and cramped kitchen. Keeps his bedroom neat and tidy, even adds a few plants to the fire escape outside his bedroom window, like the rest of his neighbours have, but he still feels out-of-place. It's the soldier in him.

He's being stupid, really, thinking he could walk into civilian life after nearly twenty years serving and expect to forget all the ingrained routine and regime that he'd followed for nearly half his life. He knows in time that he'll grow accustomed to the lack of direction in his home life, the quiet and stillness. Being in charge of his day.

He just wants to feel in control, doesn't want to feel so - He can't think of the right word, the right way to put how he's feeling into words. He doesn't try too hard, or for too long. Instead he grabs a watering can and heads out to water his plants, maybe check on some of the ones below him, who are starting to brown a little from the forgetfulness of their owners.

It doesn't take him long, just a few minutes, what does take him awhile is his recovery, from shock, when he finds a shrivelled cactus sitting precariously on a windowsill two floors down from his flat. He stares at it, first confused and then shocked and then confused again.

How anybody could kill a cactus? Purposely? Was whoever who owned the poor thing adding things to its water that didn't agree with it? Was it like this when they brought it? Bucky couldn't get his mind to work, couldn't work it out. In all his years he hadn't found anything as puzzling as to how someone had literally killed a cactus?

There's an impulse, one that Bucky doesn't really fight very hard against, to take the cactus, try and revive it and then maybe return it to whoever the monster is that did this to it. Bucky follows through with the impulse when he hears his smoke alarm going upstairs. Having taken long enough for the pie in his oven to catch and set the alarm off. He curses and grabs the cactus from the sill. He'd save it, one way or another.

* * *

Steve gets back from his lectures around six, he's exhausted and knows that he needs food and then a lot of sleep. His mind sprints from one thing needing doing to another. Pay the electric bill. Get milk, check Shuri is still available for weekend study. He goes through his flat, hangs his coat up and kicks off his boots. Changes into sweats and baggy shirt.

Sets a leftover piece of lasagne in the oven, sets up a TV show to watch while he eats and gets out his work onto the coffee table. For later.

He's got a little time left over before the lasagne is ready so he takes a small cup full of water and heads to his bedroom, confused when his plant is no longer on the ledge. He checks the floor and even goes so far as to go a few floors down to see if it got knocked and smashed but there's nothing. He knows his neighbours, most of them at least, well enough that if one of them had broken it they would have left a note or something.

But there is nothing. The alarm for Steve's lasagne goes off and he leaves the mystery of the disappearing cactus to later. It could wait. He'd killed it anyway. 


	2. Cactus.

* * *

One week after it goes missing the cactus is returned to Steve's bedroom windowsill.

Attached to the new clay red pot is a note, written in neat print-like lettering reads:

' _Don't water it everyday this time. Once a week starting Monday is enough. Make sure it has enough light._ '

Steve isn't sure if he's meant to be offended by the mystery plant rescuer? Or thankful to them for saving the cactus and returning it? He's more annoyed that they did not reveal their identity. He looks over the cactus and new pot for any clues but finds none, he huffs and leaves his plant, returns to his living-room and starts studying, ears perked just in case they decide to return for the cactus or to deliver more advice on how to keep his plant alive.

He's mostly thankful, he decides later when cooking, no matter how much he tries he can never seem to keep his plants alive longer than a month or so and he knows, even if he'd rather not admit it, that if there had been no intervention between him and the cactus it would be joining the skip outside like so many past plants before it. Maybe Steve had a chance of having at least one plant alive now with his mystery cactus guardian angel watching over him.

The thought makes him laugh. He doubts anyone's really watching his plant now it's returned to him with instructions on how to keep it alive.

* * *

Bucky checks twice whether the note has been received after he drops off the plant back to its owner. First he checks only five minutes after he's climbed back into his flat and the second is later at night when he's checking his own plants over. He spots the plant between the gaps of the grates and smirks when he notices the note gone.

Hopefully now the cactus will have a better chance of survival. He waters a few potted roses before returning inside and collecting his trash for tomorrow morning. The cracked plastic pot the cactus had been in previously poking precariously out the top. Bucky pushes it back in so it won't fall out the bag, toes on his shoes and opens the door.

It's later so he doesn't run the risk of running into a neighbour, from what he's gathered since moving into the building is that Sunday night at around six o'clock people usually left their apartments, exchanged pleasantries with the neighbours they encountered on the stairs, dumped their trash and returned to their flats after relaxed goodbyes and open invites for coffee and a cup of sugar. Bucky wasn't exactly anti-social, he'd just prefer to avoid any stairwell chat.

Going to dump his trash at eleven at night seemed to being doing just the trick. Until now.

Now he was awkwardly following a kid down the stairwell who had gawked at him when he had seen him heading down the stairs by his door. It was mostly Bucky's fault, he'd gotten comfortable that he wasn't going to bump in to anyone so had not only opted for not wearing a shirt but also leaving his prosthetic on his sofa. He sorely regretted this decision from the way the kid had looked at him.

So now they were both dumping their trash and about to turn to go back up the stairwell when the kids blue eyes landed on the broken plant pot and then darted to Bucky with accusation in his eyes.

So this was the cactus killer in the flesh.


	3. I Guess We Say Hi?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without Beta.

* * *

 Neither know what the hell to say to the other.

Bucky just stares at him with a blank sort of acknowledgement, how was he going to explain why he stole the cactus in the first place? Sorry kid, I just couldn't stand the way you were killing it? Fuck no. He felt even more exposed with no shirt and no prosthetic, the kid wasn't gawking at his arm, or lack thereof, thankfully. Maybe because he was still trying to work out the pot?

"How did you get the plant pot?" It's a dumb question but a break to the tension, Bucky looks at the plant pot like it'll have changed colour or have magically disappeared from the bin or something, he thinks about shrugging and denying any knowledge of it but what would be the point of that?

"I rescued the plant, the pot was a casualty I couldn't save." The kid narrows his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest, like it makes him big, Bucky resists laughing. Let the kid have his fun, there's not a lot of harm he could do. He feels a little easier when the kid does it.

"Rescued the plant?" He sounds insulted, maybe the kid thought he was doing a better job that he was, Bucky just nodded and he seemed even more insulted now.

"Well, maybe it was meant to be the way it was." He says, though they both now neither believe what he's said. Bucky can't resist the laugh that bubbles away and the kid looks like he's trying not to laugh either, he breaks quickly and they're both left laughing.

"I'm Steve." The kid says once their laughter has subsided and they're left looking at each other. Bucky smiles and extends his hand.

"Bucky." Their hands meet and they shake, Bucky doesn't miss the way Steve tries to keep his grip as firm as possible, although he's a little skinny for it to work for long. They drop their hands and Steve looks like he wants to say something but doesn't.

"How long have you lived here?" Bucky asks, trying to think if he's seen him before, he knows he'd remember his pretty eyes if they'd bumped into each other before.

"Nearly a year." Bucky nods but doesn't say how long he's been here, Steve doesn't ask, whether it's because he can see that maybe Bucky doesn't want him to or because he already knows he can't tell and he doesn't ask which it is.

"Maybe the next time you steal a plant from me, you could leave me a note beforehand?" Steve asks, humorous as Bucky smirks and moves closer to him, he likes the way his Adam's Apple bobs in his throat as he does, though he doesn't show that he noticed.

"I make no promises." He starts walking back up the stairs, Steve watching him dumbly as he goes.

"So, I guess we say hi now?" He calls after Bucky who laughs and looks down the stairwell at Steve.

"I guess we do."


	4. A Stupid Idea Doesn't Mean It's The Wrong Idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without Beta.

* * *

They say hi every time after their first meeting.

Steve doesn't admit how much he hopes he'll bump into Bucky again, denies that he puts his trash out at the same time as the time he saw Bucky for the first time, ignores how disappointed he is every time Bucky fails to appear, topless and rugged. Steve doesn't admit to anyone, let alone himself, that he has more than a small crush on Bucky. His frustration at never seeing Bucky comes and goes, he gets busy with school so he doesn't focus as much as he does when the school work has been handed in and he's back to square one.

He wonders if Bucky is thinking about him? Wonders if there could be some sort of future for them but Steve knows he's getting way ahead of himself and not only that he doesn't even know if Bucky's gay. If he's even single. If he's - Anything.

It's Monday evening, Steve's had a long day full of handing in assignments and going to mocks, he's barely had time to take a sip of water let alone eat anything so he's thankful to be left alone for the night with his take away that he's treated himself to, just this once, and the shitty soap playing on his TV.

He sets out his food on spare seat of his sofa and goes back to the kitchen to grab his fork and a plate, diverted when there's a knock on the front door. His stomach growls as if in frustration as Steve sighs with a brief longing look to his food before he pads across the open space towards the door, he's not thinking carefully enough to think to check who it is before he pulls open the door.

The greeting he had meant to say gets caught in his throat as he finds himself staring at the man his mind had been struggling to forget. He's dressed in a top and shorts, hair tied up and he has his prosthetic on, Steve feels a stab of disappointment at his dressed form but clears his throat and tries to keep it from showing on his face.

"Hi," Bucky says, awkward smile as he tucks the strand of hair already tucked behind his ear back again, Steve can't help but to smile back. The bashful look on his face far too cute.

"Hey," Steve says back, finding his voice as he leans against the doorway, his food temporarily forgotten.

"I saw that your cactus is doing well," He says, looking into the flat behind Steve, he follows his line of sight to the ajar bedroom door and open window and cactus sitting on the windowsill. They look back to each other and smile again, something new shared between them. It sends a thrill between the both of them.

"Thanks, though I thought you'd leave me a note again if you wanted to talk about my cactus." Steve says, finding a renewed boldness to himself. Bucky chuckles and somewhere beneath his scruff Steve would say he was even blushing a little.

"Ah, see, that would have been predictable," He starts, smirking as he crosses his arms over his broad chest that a part of Steve can't help but to wish was uncovered, leaning against the doorway just as Steve is.

"So, you don't do predictable?" The younger man ask, returning his own smirk as Bucky laughs and shrugs, eyes lingering on Steve's.

"I sort of prefer stupid." He admits, dragging his teeth over his bottom lip as Steve arches a brow, interested in how anything this man could do would be stupid.

"Maybe I prefer stupid too." Steve finds himself saying before he can think through how cheesy it sounds, it has them both laughing though so a fraction of Steve's dignity is saved.

"So, if I were to suggest an idea, a completely stupid idea that probably will get the door slammed in my face, you'd be interested in hearing that idea?" Steve shrugs without comment and enjoys the way Bucky sighs and shakes his head at him as if he's the worst tease in the world, maybe he is but Steve doesn't really believe it.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me, Steve?" It takes a few seconds for Steve to work out what he's said but once he has he flushes and can't help but to grin like a goof.

"A stupid idea doesn't mean it's the wrong idea."


	5. 'Sucker.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without Beta.

* * *

They agree to have dinner a week later. Steve's in pieces when the evening arrives and he's still searching for something to wear.

He paces up and down the length of his bedroom, hands in his hair and rubbing over his face as he tries to decide if a white shirt is too formal or if a jumper is too informal. He hates that he's even thinking about this stupid minor detail when he should be more worried about what he'll talk to Bucky about. He doesn't know anything about this man except that he's insanely attractive and likes stealing plants? Steve shakes his head and mutters with frustration as he continues searching through his wardrobe, not that he had a massive amount of options laid before him.

All too soon and before he's even remotely ready the doorbell rings, signalling Bucky's arrival, he winces as if he's been whacked around the head and hesitates and deliberates about getting dressed and then answering the door or just answering the door in his current attire which consisted of odd fluffy socks, white briefs and no shirt, he's still thinking and too distracted with deciding that he doesn't notice how much time passes nor does he notice the man now climbing down the fire escape, now knocking on his close window.

Steve jumps out of his skin and, in his shock, grabs hold of his nearest shirt to cover himself up with. Fortunately for Bucky, and most unfortunately for Steve, the shirt is a bright pink with the words _'Sucker'_ printed across the front in bold white letters. Bucky laughs as he pushes the window up and peers inside the bedroom, Steve blushing scarlet as he throws the top across the room and grabs a pillow from his bed to cover himself with.

"I didn't mean to scare you but - Uh - " Bucky struggles to keep his laughter in check as he looks at Steve's partly mortified face, he fails and bursts out laughing, covering his mouth with his hand that wasn't supporting his weight on the window.

"Stop!" Steve demands, rashly throwing the pillow at Bucky without really thinking, this does get Bucky to stop laughing but only because the pillow unbalances him and he ends up falling onto Steve's bedroom floor with a thud followed by a grunt.

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry!" Steve hurtles towards Bucky, again no thought behind the action and ends up tripping over the pillow, toppling and only being saved from falling flat on his face to the floor by Bucky's ridiculously strong hands grabbing him.

Steve ends up straddling Bucky's hips. He goes scarlet in the face again as he stares at Bucky, laid out on his floor after falling through window. He has no idea what the hell to do.

"I'm so sorry!" He says as sincerely as possible but still in place atop Bucky, staring at him, red in the face.

"Don't worry, the view makes up for the fall." Steve's heart skips a beat at Bucky's reply, once again left speechless and still just dumbly staring at the man as he stays keeping him pinned beneath him as much as Bucky's hands that are still on Steve's arms keep him pinned to Bucky. For a second they seem to lean in to the other, stuck in a trance as the space closes in and -

But it's slips away when Steve thinks about what might actually be about to happen and then he's hopping off of Bucky as quick as he can without running the risk of falling all over again and retreating to where he stood when Bucky had appeared at the window. He watches with his lip caught between his teeth as Bucky smiles, as if he knows exactly what had just ran through Steve's mind, and gets up from the floor, flipping his long hair back out of his face as he does.

"I'll wait - " He gestures to the bedroom door and Steve nods and watches him leave. He's alone again and still doesn't know what to wear.


	6. My Name Is -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without Beta.

* * *

It's nearing the end of their night, their date. They finished the evening off with cake that Bucky retrieved from his apartment and wine Steve had lingering about in the back of one of his empty cupboards. They're both laughing and more than a little drunk by the time Steve walks Bucky to his door.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bucky says when he's about to step out of Steve's apartment, turning back to the younger man with a wide grin on his face as Steve watches him, waits, tonight had been perfect. More perfect than he would have thought possible considering how it had started.

"You didn't answer my question!" Bucky says, planting his feet and giving Steve a look as if he had cheated him out of something so desperately important and not just his second name, he laughs and leans against the doorway. They had played twenty questions through dessert, to get to know each other better. The last question had been last names but they hadn't quite managed to finish. Steve grins at Bucky and straights up against the doorway, as if he would reach his height.

"You first," He says, eyes glittering as Bucky laughs and proudly states that his full name is James Barnes, he omits the existence of his middle name as Steve already knows it, Steve mulls Bucky's name around his mouth, rolling and sounding the B's, he likes the name. He likes it a lot. He wonders if their son will have his name - That when Steve knows he's way drunker than he thought he had been, thinking about having kids with a man you've only had a single date with is way past the point of be acceptable.

"Well?" Steve looks at Bucky as if he heard what he'd been thinking and says the next thing that tumbles out of his clumsy mouth. It's would have been better if he had known about Steve fantasising about kids.

"Steve Barnes - " His face flushes red and Bucky looks at him with raised eyebrows and an expression so twisted with so many different reactions that Steve's mouth starts working again. Starts making it worst too.

" I - I mean I - ! I'm Barnes Steve - Steven Ba - Rogers!" Steve says, almost yelling his name by the end of his car crash, he cringes and he's bright red in the face but Bucky just laughs, grins so wide that it takes over his face, Steve's not sure whether he wants to kiss him or die more. Thankfully Bucky doesn't run off screaming but rather tucks the hair that had fallen lose around his face from his laughter back behind his ears and leans closer to Steve, the wine on their breath twines together.

"Well, Steve Barnes Barnes Steve Steven Ba-Rogers, how would you feel about a kiss?" Steve can't believe his ears and he doesn't have words, he just nods and then Bucky's lips are on his, soft and chaste. Everything melts away around them. Steve forgets the travesty that had just transpired between them.

Everything's perfect.


End file.
